LAUSR

Abstract Using liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) methods established in literature, several different tungsten (IV) disulfide (WS 2 ) dispersions were prepared in solvents ranging from NMP, ethanol/water to pure water via sonication under ambient conditions. These various dispersions were then deposited directly onto cross-linked ultrafiltration-level polyacrylonitrile (PAN) flat sheet membranes through a pressure-assisted filtration process to produce ready-to-use membranes without any additional modifications. To evaluate and compare the performances of the various membranes produced, organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) was utilized as the testing method while also representing a potential application of these fabricated membranes. After observing and comparing the outcomes of depositing different WS 2 dispersions, deposition of the NMP dispersion was found to yield a promising membrane due to a concurrent synergistic densification effect with positive impacts on membrane performance. Thus, further emphases were placed on studying the use of different initial WS 2 concentrations and longer sonication times in NMP dispersions. After the optimization, the composite membrane consisting of WS 2 on cross-linked PAN substrates shows impressive performance with a high pure ethanol permeance of 43.35 L m −2  h −1 bar −1 , a rejection of 86% towards Remazol Brilliant Blue R (M w  = 626.54 g/mol) and a long-term sustained rejection of 99% towards Evans Blue (M w  = 960.81 g/mol) in ethanol.